Student Opinion on Tardy System

By: Jessica Poon, Staff Writer

Near the end of last semester, the Mills Administrative Team began to enforce a new system that would enforce timeliness and presence with the students. Their new strategy is to leave an automatic message every time a student is late or tardy to the parents and guardians of not only absences, but tardies as well. There are several opinions on it, however, most don’t fnd it necessary and want it removed or altered.

On Nov 16, The Mills Administrative Team sent out an Aeries message, notifying parents, guardians, and students about the new system. They stated in the Aeries message, “We want to encourage all our students to attend class on time so they are present for the most learning opportunities as possible.” Although the setup was created with a positive intent, a lot of students and parents are having mixed feelings about whether or not it is genuinely useful.

The process of the auto phone dialer, in this case, is that when a student is absent or tardy as well, the system will automatically call the student’s guardian’s number that is connected to the student’s information in the district’s system. The auto phone dialer simply states whether they were late or tardy and which period(s) they were late or tardy in. The calls usually come in after school hours and before nightfall. Although adding the new tardy automated message had good intentions behind it, several students agree that it’s either pointless or unfair. A sophomore claims, “I think that it’s useless. It’s highly likely that a lot of parents are busy. They should just remain with the texts and drop the calls because the majority of the time, my parents don’t mind, and I think other students’ won’t either.” Another student confesses, “I think that it’s unfair to notify parents when they’re only like one minute late, it just seems a little pointless since that’s the case most of the time.”-

In addition to students, a parent of a sophomore placed their opinion on the matter. They stated, “I think the absence reminders are fne. However for the tardies, I don’t think it’s useless, I just don’t think it’s necessary. It’s a bother and I believe that the students should be treated more like young adults; not every little thing needs to be reported.”

Personally, as a student, I think that the new system is slightly unfair towards students and not necessary. Many teachers, including mine, will mark the studentst late if they are not in their seats when the bell rings. It sounds like a reasonable way to mark students tardy, but this rule includes being marked tardy even if their bag is already there, and they are using the restroom. People may argue that since the break or passing period is plenty of time to use the bathroom, but there are several cases in which students are held back from the previous class and had to get items from their locker as well. Not all teachers have as frm of a rule as the one I stated before, but even being less than a minute late is enough to be marked tardy for most classes.if a student is in that situation and is marked tardy, many can agree that it is , just a little over the top. To me, the only thing the tardy calls and texts do are make students get questioned by their parents for an extra minute at home. It passes quickly, as there’s no real way to clear tardies like that.

In the end, it seems as if the new tardy system isn’t the most favored, however, I believe that it is something everyone will eventually get used to, and complaints like mine will fade after time. Additionally, the new system doesn’t seem like something that will be altered, so students should attempt to be late as minimal as possible.